Arab Petroleum Investments Corp.,
an energy investment unit of the Organization of Arab Petroleum
Exporting Countries, plans to sell a Saudi riyal-denominated
benchmark-sized bond as the company expands in the kingdom.

The bond will be issued after an investors’ road-show
starting in Saudi Arabia early next week, the Al-Khobar, Saudi
Arabia-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. It
didn’t provide the size and pricing of the bond.

Companies in Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy, are
stepping up bond sales to finance expansion plans as the
government invests to spur economic growth and build
infrastructure. A five-year, $400 billion stimulus package was
announced by the government in late 2008.

“With $139 billion worth of projects set to be implemented
in Saudi Arabia in the coming years, we see major future
investment opportunities in the market,” Ahmad al-Nuaimi, the
company’s chief executive officer, said in the statement.
“Conditions are very favorable for issuers with solid
fundamentals.”

Sukuk from borrowers in the world’s largest oil supplier
may more than double to $4.5 billion this year from $2.1 billion
in 2009, Riyadh-based HSBC Saudi Arabia Ltd. said earlier this
year. Saudi Electricity Co., the Arab world’s largest utility,
and Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Development Co., the biggest Saudi
developer by market value, issued bonds in 2010.